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Event: Doorstop, Parliament House
Date: 7 June 2025, 11:30am AEST
Speakers: Denita Wawn, CEO of Master Builders Australia
Topics: housing; red tape; tradie shortages; building costs; productivity
E&OE
Denita Wawn, CEO Master Builders Australia: Master Builders Australia commended the Albanese Government in its last term of Parliament in creating the Housing Accord and the housing targets. Why? Because it sets the scene of driving housing and the focus of housing in this country. It also ensured that all three levels of government were actually talking together for once on housing. A lot of work has been done since that time of the Housing Accord and the specific targets of August 2023 but with the re-election of the Albanese Government, we now have the opportunity to actually enhance and also ensure that those targets are now met. We commend the Government for bringing all administration of building and construction under one roof of the Department of Treasury, with the Minister, Claire O’Neil, focused on ensuring that all levels of government are working towards the same aim, and that is building 1.2 million homes over five years. But we need to resolve our problems in the sector. Twenty per cent, nearly a 20 per cent decline in productivity over the last 10 years, an increase of costs of building a home of 40 per cent over the last five years, and we’ve also seen an 80 per cent increase in the time it takes to build a home over the last 10 years. This is simply not good enough. So, that is why we commend the focus on housing and the focus on productivity to ensure that we are building for all Australians. That is why it is critical that we remove the red tape that is hampering our capacity to build homes, whether it’s from ensuring we have critical infrastructure in place to ensure our new suburbs and our updated suburbs have the infrastructure they need to ensure that building approvals, development approvals, are actually done on time frames that are reasonable, and then, of course, to ensure that builders can actually build in a system that actually makes sense. And that is why we commend the work of the Productivity Commission report into how we resolve these problems. And it was great to see the Minister say that the Productivity Commission report will be one of the key road maps to driving house building in this country over the next three parliamentary years. Thank you.
Journalist: The goal of 1.2 million new homes is not new. As you point out, August 2023 how are we progressing towards that? And if we’re not, isn’t the government part of the problem it is not getting done?
Denita: The 1.2 we say is achievable. Our forecast is saying that we will fall short, but not ridiculously short. We’ve got to realise that the problem of housing supply in this country is decades in the making. And for the first time, we’ve seen a Federal Government actually recognise that they’ve got a leadership role in resolving this problem. Up until the Albanese Government, we have seen Federal Government say, no, it’s the problem of the states, it’s the problem of local government. For the first time, the Federal Government is leaning in and trying to ensure that there is a focused attention on housing. So we’ve seen a huge amount of reports, some significant planning undertaken over the last three years, and we are seeing green shoots of increases in housing approvals, slowly, but some significant changes need to be made and problems addressed. And the good thing is, for the first time, we’re seeing a Federal Government really focused on those problems, so we can fast track that building.
Journalist: On red tape, it seems like there’s a lot of talk at this stage. The Federal Government saying we’re going to work with all levels, like we’re going to try and cut red tape. Realistically, how soon can we start seeing that red tape cut?
Denita: Well, I think it’s important to note, in terms of red tape, that the industry and governments know what the problems are. There are a plethora of reports that tell us how to resolve those problems and we’ve now got the political will to actually ensure that change occurs. So we need to ensure that all parties are focused on making those changes. For example, the planning approval project that has been undertaken by Treasury for some time is now nearly ready for implementation. We have a Productivity Commission inquiry that’s reaffirmed that the National Construction Code needs a review. We can start that tomorrow. We know how we can resolve those problems quickly. There is also the issue of people. We can get all the red tape resolved, but if we don’t get enough people from those needed in local government for approvals right through to the people building our homes, we also need to focus on that. And if we focus on red tape solely, we’re still not going to resolve our skilled problems. So again, we need to address apprenticeships, ensuring we’re supporting employers through those apprenticeship journeys, and also fast track migration for skilled people. We still believe that is something that needs to be addressed by the Federal Government.
Journalist: Can you give us an update in terms of where you stand with the Government’s efforts to address some of those skilled shortage and fee free TAFE? Is that enough at least domestically, to address that?
Denita: Fee free TAFE is good, but it’s not enough. We need more to focus on supporting employers, particularly in those first few years where apprentices aren’t all that productive. We need to focus on completion rates. A 50 per cent completion rate on apprentices is simply not good enough. What are we doing to support the apprentice and the employers and the training organisations to get that completion rate up? We also need to focus on actually ensuring that people are interested in vocational education and training. It was great to see Minister Giles this week really focus on the need to uplift our numbers through vocational education and training. We put out last year our Construct Your Career guide, and we’ve provided that to all the secondary schools in the country, but want some support from Government to actually promote careers in the industry.
Journalist: The Opposition says in the Government’s first term, the Albanese Government’s first term, it was a dreadful government in terms of red tape. And in fact, produced, was prolific in producing additional red tape, at least in the housing sector. What’s the truth here? What’s the government’s performance been like?
Denita: Well, I think we need to acknowledge that the changes, the significant changes that have really hamstrung the industry even further, that came into the 2022 National Construction Code actually came in under the purview of the previous Coalition Government, not the Labor Government. The Labor Government have recognised that there are problems with the way upon which the process was conducted into the lead up of those changes in 2022 and have been listening to industry in understanding that changes sometimes are important, but equally, the way upon which changes are implemented is critical. We are in an industry of 99 per cent of small to medium sized businesses. Changes to red tape, while sometimes well meaning, if you don’t get the implementation right, small to medium sized businesses simply cannot have the capacity to introduce them if they are rushed through and in a way that is cumbersome. So, we need to focus on red tape, removal of red tape. But equally, we need to ensure that if there is new red tape for the sector that the transition process is done in a way that ensures that we minimise the impact on the industry’s capacity to build.
Journalist: There’s been a bit of a focus on the need to use new technology to build more homes faster. Why is it that Australia is behind other countries in the uptake of technology like robotics?
Denita: We are behind. In part, there are a range of reasons, including the fact that there simply has not been enough money from the governments on research and development in our industry. That is slowly changing, but nevertheless, we would call upon the Government to spend more on R&D in building and construction as one of the largest industries in the country. Equally, we also know that the geographic spread of the industry also makes sometimes these things more expensive. Some volume builders told me at the moment that it’s even cheaper to build housing frames from scratch than using prefabricated trusses because of the cost implications. So, we need to sit down as an industry and work through these issues. Which we are. There is the CRC 4.0, a research and development corporation that is focusing on these types of issues. But we need to do more, and we’re working with the government to address some of the bottlenecks in modern methods of construction.
Journalist: [Inaudible]. Down in Victoria, they’ve announced, we’re almost four or five years ahead of the Albanese Government. The Labor Government here has done a lot and made very similar announcements, like sort of five, six, seven years ago. But we’re not seeing a real turnaround in building improvements here. So, can you just run me through why you think that’s happening, and where you’re seeing these green shoots? Because it doesn’t look super positive.
Denita: I think we’ve got to be conscious of the fact that when we talk about green shoots, we’re talking about our forecasting done by Master Builders Australia. We’re forecasting, at the moment that most states in the current climate will just lie short of the forecast of 1.2 million, except for New South Wales. And what we’re saying is that if you remove these bottlenecks, you will actually see a situation where we can achieve that 1.2 across the country. It is slow, but nevertheless, I think it’s also important to not underestimate the impact of interest rates. We know demand is there for housing. We know that people want to build more homes. We know that people want to renovate their homes. But when you have a situation where the cost of living is tight and interest rates have been stubborn, then people aren’t willing to spend the money. So, we need to also see, while we’re working on the bottlenecks, to focus on an economy that is strong and we’re seeing interest rates decline. Because every time an interest rate changes and drops, we see additional people going through display homes. That’s the type of green shoots that we want to see. It’s the activity happening before building approval numbers even start to be reflected in the ABS numbers.
Journalist: And just to clarify, you said all states except New South Wales. Are you saying New South Wales is going to exceed the expectations or be a little bit further behind?
Denita: New South Wales at the moment, under our forecast, is relatively further behind than other states. Nevertheless, the Minn’s government has indicated a range of announcements that we think will be interesting when we re-release and update our forecasts in September to see where they are landing, once we take into account some of the announcements they’ve made over the last six months.
Journalist: And just quickly, the Government’s making a big song and dance about the fact that it is the first time since post-war era that they’re actually investing in building homes themselves. Again, Victoria said it was going to do something similar with social and affordable housing that has fallen well short of its targets. Is the better solution, just to improve things like land tax settings, to actually get the investment back in?
Denita: I think it’s really important that if we’re going to meet the 1.2 million homes, we need all investment occurring, whether it is private or government investment. We need to ensure that there is government investment, particularly in affordable, community and also assisting first home buyers. But equally, if we do not see an uptick in private investment in the housing market, whether it’s large institutional investors or mum and dad investors, we are not going to meet those targets. So we’ve got to make sure that the economy is right, but we also may need to resolve the productivity bottlenecks in our sector to ensure that people see it as value for money to invest in housing.
Journalist: So just to be clear, no single state is meeting its target to meet the 1.2 million new homes in five years?
Denita: That is correct under the Master Builders Australia forecast, we are saying at the moment, no state or territory will meet their 1.2 million target in the five year period of the Accord. However, we say it is achievable if we address these productivity bottlenecks, because they are only at the moment under our targets, falling slightly short, with the exception of New South Wales, that is falling more short than other states in relative terms. Thank you.
Media contact:
Dee Zegarac
National Director, External Affairs & Engagement
0400 493 071
dee.zegarac@masterbuilders.com.au